UNICEF to partner govt. to stop violence against children

United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) is partnering Plateau State to build a system that will stop violence against children.
During a sensitisation workshop held for journalists in Jos, Ladi Alabi of UNICEF said the key to stopping violence against children is building systems that would strategise to strengthen child protection, where violence against children would not be considered as a private affairs.
According to Alabi, survey conducted by the National Population Commission in Nigeria shows that “six out of 10 children suffer violence, one out of two children goes through physical, emotional or sexual violence.”
Alabi, who states that the prevalent rate of violence against children calls for UNICEF partnership to stop it, further said “violence retard the brain of the child because of the pressure exerted on the child.”
She further revealed that Plateau was the first in the Northern states and the fourth in Nigeria to take steps at child protection, and that Nigeria was the first in West Africa and eighth in the world to take this step.
Earlier in her remark, Fidelia Stele, assistant director in charge of welfare in Plateau State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, said the ministry was kicking off the End Violence Against Children campaign in Mangu and Wase as pilot local government areas because of the prevalent rate of early marriage in Wase and physical violence in Mangu.